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15 Weird Octopus Facts That Sound Made Up but Are Totally True

Three hearts, blue blood and a talent for escaping.

By the Buzzuh TeamOctober 22, 2026

Octopuses are some of the strangest animals on the planet. They're smart, sneaky and built completely differently from us. Here are 15 facts that prove it.

1.They have three hearts

Two hearts pump blood through the gills, and the third pumps it to the rest of the body.

2.Their blood is blue

Octopus blood uses a copper-based protein called hemocyanin to carry oxygen, which turns it blue. Ours uses iron, which makes it red.

3.Most of their neurons are in their arms

About two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are in its arms, so each arm can touch, taste and react pretty much on its own.

4.They taste with their suckers

Octopus suckers are covered in sensors that let them taste whatever they touch. Imagine tasting the doorknob every time you leave the house.

5.They're arms, not tentacles

Scientists call an octopus's eight limbs arms. Squid and cuttlefish have arms and also two longer tentacles.

6.They can squeeze through tiny gaps

With no bones, an octopus can fit through a hole not much bigger than its hard beak.

7.They're famous escape artists

In 2016, an octopus named Inky is said to have slipped out of his tank at New Zealand's National Aquarium and escaped down a drainpipe to the sea.

8.They can change color in a flash

Octopuses can change their color and even the texture of their skin in a fraction of a second to blend in, even though scientists think most of them are colorblind.

9.They squirt ink to escape

When they're in danger, they release a cloud of ink that hides them and can confuse a predator while they make a getaway.

10.Some use tools

Veined octopuses have been seen carrying coconut shell halves around and hiding inside them. That's portable housing.

11.Some can walk on two arms

A few species have been filmed "walking" on two arms along the seafloor while the other six arms pretend to be seaweed.

12.Most don't live very long

Many octopus species live only about a year or two, which is wild for such a smart animal.

13.Octopus moms are super devoted

A mother octopus guards her eggs for weeks or months, often without eating, and usually dies soon after they hatch.

14.They're related to snails

Octopuses are mollusks, the same group of animals as snails, clams and oysters.

15.The plural is "octopuses"

"Octopuses" is the standard plural, though "octopodes" is also correct. "Octopi" is common, but the word comes from Greek, not Latin, so purists don't love it.

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